– GREENPEACE
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 17 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Victory for Environmental Groups
The 34 environmental and sports groups that form the platform Salvar Punta Blanca have welcomed the denial of the Island Interest declaration for the Underwater Gardens project. They are hopeful this decision will mark the “definitive halt to the large-scale tourist development in the Teno-Rasca marine area.”
The platform notes in a statement that the Tenerife Cabildo had previously granted the Island Interest status (PII) to the project in 2022. This status was intended for a theme park for divers, which would have occupied over 10,000 hectares of land and several thousand square metres of seabed with artificial reefs.
Impact on Biodiversity
“Today, the Cabildo has been forced to withdraw that island interest declaration, a project that would affect rustic land and the Teno-Rasca marine area, a hotspot of marine biodiversity at risk due to tourism,” they stated.
The Island Interest declaration was critical as it allowed construction in environmentally protected rustic areas. The project included over 18,000 metres of infrastructure across 10.6 hectares of land, featuring a ‘meditatorium’, an underwater museum, swimming pools, and a desalination plant, among others.
According to Salvar Punta Blanca, without the Island Interest declaration, the project “loses its administrative protections,” making the land component “unviable” as originally proposed.
Project Elements Linked
The platform emphasises that both the land component (Garden Gate) and the marine component (Sea Garden) are integral parts of the same business initiative.
With the loss of institutional support for the land component, “the entire project hangs in the balance, both land and sea,” they explained.
Collective Action Celebrated
“This is a victory for collective struggle. We hope that the President of the Tenerife Cabildo genuinely listens to the public and halts other ecocidal projects, such as the Motor Circuit or proposed expansions of airports, ports, and roads. Today, collective and legal action prevails,” declared members of Salvar Punta Blanca.
They highlighted that the southwest of Tenerife “faces many other threats” driven by the Cabildo, municipalities, and the Government of the Canary Islands, such as the Cuna del Alma project and real estate developments within the protected area of Montaña de Guaza.
Looking Ahead
“We are in an election year, and those who issued this very permission cannot now claim to have saved us from this mega-project. We hope and wish that this sets a precedent for the Tenerife Cabildo regarding other equally harmful projects for the island,” the groups stated.
They questioned, “How can the Island Interest be withdrawn from this theme park while the Cabildo is currently processing WaveGarden, a theme park featuring artificial waves near La Tejita beach?”
For this reason, they insisted, “It is now imperative to continue fighting so that tourism does not consume what remains of our environment, especially in the southwest of Tenerife.”
